There are few interpretations of the myths as clear as tapas and Indra, who is the lord of the senses.
Jnanendriya, perception: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching.
Karmendriya, action: speaking, grasping, walking, procreating, excreting.
If we go into meditation, want to calm our sensory perceptions, bring them under control instead of being their slave, then the mind, Indra, rebels. The mind resists being overcome. That is why it is so difficult for us to calm down in meditation. Indra fights against the meditator. The mind does not want to be ‚conquered‘, it wants to let the senses run free.